Karla Sofía Gascón’s Years-Old Social Media Posts About George Floyd, Islam Cause Stir Online – Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterSubscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterThe ‘Emilia Pérez’ star is under fire for online declarations suggesting that the religion should be banned and that Floyd was a “hustler and drug dealer.”
By
Chris Gardner
On the heels of a dust-up with supporters of fellow best actress Oscars nominee Fernanda Torres, Karla Sofía Gascón is catching heat for fiery takes she posted online in recent years about everything from Islam to George Floyd.
The Emilia Pérez star’s posts on X (formerly Twitter) started to make the rounds early Thursday morning with multiple users sharing screenshots and critical takes of Gascón’s opinions. For example, less than a month after George Floyd was murdered in Minnesota in 2020, inciting nationwide Black Lives Matter rallies, Gascón shared a thread recapping her views.
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“Let me get this straight, a guy tries to pass off a counterfeit bill after consuming methamphetamine, an idiot policeman arrives and goes too far in arresting him, killing him, ruining the lives of his family and his colleagues, and turning the guy with the bill into a martyr hero,” she wrote (in Spanish, which was translated here by Google Translate). “I truly believe that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict and a hustler, but his death has served to highlight once again that there are those who still consider Black people to be monkeys without rights and those who consider the police to be murderers. All wrong.”
Later that year, she took aim at Muslims in her native Spain.
“Sorry, is it just my impression or are there more and more Muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels,” she posted on Nov. 23, 2020. “Maybe next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic.”
Regarding Islam, she suggested a ban: “Until we ban religions that go against European values and violate human rights, such as Islam, under the protection of freedom of worship, we will not end part of the huge problem we face. Faith manipulates those who cling to faith.” Gascón also shared thoughts on the 2021 Oscar telecast, which saw the best picture prize going to Nomadland: “More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.”
Vanity Fair writer Chris Murphy weighed in by commenting on Gascón’s posts about Floyd: “You can’t make this stuff up … for the love of God do not give this woman an Oscar!!!” Gascón made history as the first trans performer to be nominated as best actress while her film, from writer-director Jacques Audiard, topped the field with 13 nominations for Netflix.
Shortly after 10 a.m. this morning, some of Gascón’s posts started disappearing, including the one about Floyd that had still been live earlier in the day.
Later Thursday she apologized for her past tweets.
“As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain,” she said in part. “All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
By Friday, Gascón’s X account had been deactivated. She explained the move to close her X account in an exclusive statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying in part, I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect my family or me.”
Many users expressed surprise, not that the outspoken Spanish actress posted her thoughts in the first place — freedom of speech is protected — but that amid an always-heated awards season race, the posts remained up on the site for as long as they did. Top contenders like Gascón are always surrounded by teams of publicists and strategists who are experts in the fields of media training and public perception.this is all from the star of a movie that is campaigning on its progressive values, you really gotta laugh. stuff like this doesn’t get flagged because you can say whatever you want about muslims, it’s never considered racist. again, this isn’t even all of them pic.twitter.com/Cq8rQaiSmm
The swirl comes after Gascón suggested in an interview with a Brazilian newspaper that online forces are at work in an attempt to smear her and the Emilia Pérez team. “What I don’t like are social media teams — people who work with these people — trying to diminish our work, like me and my movie, because that doesn’t lead anywhere. You don’t need to tear down someone’s work to highlight another’s. I have never, at any point, said anything bad about Fernanda Torres or her movie. However, there are people working with Fernanda Torres tearing me and Emilia Pérez down. That speaks more about their movie than mine.”
Once the comments went viral, countless X users tagged the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences claiming that Gascón’s comments violated Academy rules of making disparaging remarks of another contender. However, the Academy has concluded that no rules were violated — Gascón did not comment on or denigrate Torres’ performance or film — but Gascón did release a statement to Variety to clarify the situation.
“I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her the past few months,” Gascón said in the statement. “In my recent comments, I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience. Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous.”
In a recent cover story with THR, Gascón shrugged off the online vitriol she receives as a transgender actress. “Social media is a lie,” she said. “The reality is in the street. It’s people who come up to you to say thank you.”
Jan. 31, 10:58 a.m. This story has been updated with Gascón’s apology and information about her closing her X account.Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every daySign up for THR news straight to your inbox every daySubscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterSend us a tip using our anonymous form.
